I extend my thoughts and prayers to all of those whose lives have been impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake. On behalf of all employees of the ZEON Group, I hope the affected areas will soon be restored and rebuilt.

 

In accordance with our Mid-Term Management Plans, developed every three years, we have implemented policies each fiscal year. In fiscal 2010, the final year of IZ-60 (Innovation ZEON-60), we summed up the results of the past three years and set out a new three-year Mid-Term Management Plan, which started in fiscal 2011. A large number of ZEON Group employees from various positions participated in discussions on the development of the new Mid-Term Management Plan through workshops and other activities.

 

As the foundation supporting the new Mid-Term Management Plan, we defined our key sense of value as speed, dialogue and contribution to society and our treasured ZEON characteristics as mutual trust and fellowship. These are based on our corporate philosophy, “ZEON will contribute to the preservation of the Earth and the prosperity of the human race’ as well as elements of our CSR Policy established in April 2010, which states: “We will ensure compliance and meet society’s needs for safety and security,’ “We will contribute to sustainably developing society and protecting the global environment through our corporate activities,’ and “We will ensure that each and every ZEON person is aware of CSR and acts accordingly.’ We then created an enterprise blueprint for 2020: “ZEON creates the future today through the power of chemistry’ and “ZEON will continue to contribute to the realization of customer dreams and a prosperous society.’

 

The new Mid-Term Management Plan lays out the specific steps through fiscal 2013 for embodying our enterprise blueprint for 2020. The essential component of our business strategy is: “We will further strengthen our elastomer and specialty materials businesses as the twin pillars for expanding business worldwide.’ Details on this strategy can be found in the plan, and the corporate philosophy and CSR Policy lie at the heart of the strategy. With this in mind, all our executives and employees are committed to taking CSR to the next level and pushing forward with our business activities to contribute to society.

 

The ZEON Group has developed an impressive range of environmentally friendly products through its original technology that does not imitate others and cannot itself be imitated. We supply these products to society reliably and safely through our Responsible Care activities. In fiscal 2010, we reduced CO2 emissions by 8.8% from 1990 levels, achieving the 6% reduction goal of the Kyoto Protocol. As a chemicals company that comprehensively uses petroleum-derived C4 and C5 fractions, we recognize we must improve the transparency of product impact not only from the perspective of production processes, but also in Life Cycle Assessment, which evaluates the total energy balance from production and use by customers through disposal.

 

We established the ZEON CSR Policy and CSR Code of Conduct in April of last year to guide our CSR activities. This January, we inaugurated a new CSR promotion system under the guidance of the CSR Conference, and we have focused on installing our systems for developing our CSR activities. In order to lay a new foundation for ZEON’s CSR within this framework, this fiscal year we will organize our CSR activities by category and stakeholder to increase visibility through the development of a CSR Matrix, while developing an outline for new CSR activities–CSR Core Projects–in which everyone can participate.

 

The ZEON Group will continue working to realize the sustainable development of society and meet the demands and expectations of all of its stakeholders, including suppliers, customers, shareholders, investors, concerned parties of each of our local plants and offices, and affiliated companies through timely action, dialogue and contribution to society. Our goal is to establish ourselves as a group deeply committed to CSR, which earns the trust of society at large as well as the pride of its employees.

 

Finally, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to review this report, and we welcome your opinions and suggestions.

 

August 2011

 

Naozumi Furukawa

President and CEO